Passionate about IP! Since June 2003 the IPKat weblog has covered copyright, patent, trade mark, info-tech and privacy/confidentiality issues from a mainly UK and European perspective. The team is David Brophy, Birgit Clark, Merpel, Jeremy Phillips, Eleonora Rosati, Darren Smyth, Annsley Merelle Ward and Neil J. Wilkof. You're welcome to read, post comments and participate in our community. You can email the Kats here

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Wednesday, 15 March 2006

On 8 March, the US Senate passed the Trademark Dilution Revision Act 2006. The Act introduces a likely dilution standard (instead of actual dilution), new definitions of blurring, tarnishment and famous marks (marks must be famous to qualify for actual dilution protection).

The Act is a revised version of the Bill that formed the Trademark Dilution Revision Act 2005. The 2006 version is almost identical to the 2005 version, but it introduces a general defence of non-commercial use and a special burden of proof for trade dress dilution cases.